Dominion Era/Tolvaar (Culture)

The wolf-shifting peoples of Di'Termalttë, the Tolvaar are known in the Tretalleri tongue as Di'Fareni, and in Dominean as Di'Faeren. Younger by far than the two elfin races, Di'Tretâllë and Di'Elledŷnnë that they share the continent with, it would nevertheless be a mistake to call the Tolvaar primitive. Though their ancestral home lies in the Exiled Realm, due to their good relations with Di'Tretâllë, it is not uncommon to see Tolvaar enclaves within the lands of the Dominion.

Religion

It may well be an exercise in futility to attempt to paint the Tolvaari clans of the Dominion Era in broad strokes when it comes to the matter of religion as writings, both Tolvaari and not, indicate that during this time period, Tolvaari religious views varied wildly from one clan to the next. However, to not attempt to understand the religion of the Dominion Era Tolvaar is to do their beliefs injustice. For the purposes of this work, therefore, we shall loosely categorize the Dominion Era Tolvaar into three groupings: the Secular Tolvaar, the Dominean Tolvaar, and the Animist Tolvaar.

Before we dive into each of these three categories, however, it would be prudent to discuss one feature of the collective mythos of the Tolvaari peoples that is present consistently among all the clans: the legendary figure known as the Lady Veýs. Regardless of religious belief, one would be hard-pressed to find a Dominion Era Tolvaar who did not genuinely believe in the existence of the Lady Veýs. Though the stories of the Lady Veýs are many and, as with most things, differ from clan to clan, a common thread that links them all is the idea that the Lady Veýs was a redemptive figure in the mythological history of the Tolvaar. The most common sentiment is that prior to the Lady Veýs' intervention, the Tolvaari Clans cared only about strength, and that she had come at a time when all the political posturing of a previous age had turned into all-out war between the clans. The stories disagree on what exactly the Lady Veýs did, but they do agree that prior to her arrival, battle was the Tolvaari way of life. It was the Lady Veýs that taught the Tolvaar the value of peace and unity between the clans, and she that carved out a place for the Tolvaar in the history of Di'Termalttë.

The Secular Tolvaar

There is very little, in terms of religious belief, to talk about with regard to the secular Tolvaar, for they do not believe themselves subject to neither gods nor spirits. Morality, for the secular Tolvaar, is not defined by gods nor by nature, but instead, by the accountability of one sapient creature to another. Furthermore, the secular Tolvaar believe in the value of evidence and are quick to demand it when confronted with extraordinary claims, which they summarily reject if evidence is not provided.

The story of the Lady Veýs is perhaps the one exception to secular Tolvaari scrutiny. Most secular Tolvaar accept the existence of the Lady Veýs as truth due to the preponderance of documented conversations between the Lady and other respected figures of Tolvaari history. However, during the Dominion Era, there was a small but slowly growing section of the secular Tolvaari population that approach the literature with a new hermeneutics, choosing instead to believe that the Lady Veýs was not a single person, but rather the conglomeration of a number of prominent women throughout Tolvaari history whose work eventually led to where the Tolvaar are now.

The Dominean Tolvaar

Influenced largely by their proximity to Dominion lands, the Dominean Tolvaar comprise the majority of the Tolvaar that live near the borders of the Exiled Realm and the Tolvaar who live within the Dominion itself. In fact, by the end of the Dominion Era, a number of the older Tolvaari enclaves in the Dominion have become fully integrated, with a number of Tolvaari clans swearing fealty to the Ivory Throne, the most prominent of whom are the Nôrak, or the Blue Feather Clan.

The Dominean Tolvaar adhere to the Faith of the Nine and though many acknowledge the authority of the Grand Rookery on the matter of the faith, to the Dominean Tolvaar, the Nine, like them, are able to change forms. Many depictions of the Nine in Dominean Tolvaar homesteads and settlements take on the image of Tolvaar, instead of the more elfin features more commonly associated with them. Furthermore, despite the canonical interpretation of the Nine as put forth by the Grand Rookery, Dominean Tolvaar approach some of the Nine with a different paradigm. The Stranger, for example, is approached with a more wary respect than the reverence that the Tretallë have for him. Furthermore, for many of the Dominean Tolvaari Clans, it is the Smith that is most prominent of the pantheon.

Though naturally more warlike than their brethren living in the Exiled Realm, the Dominean Tolvaar still regard the Rider with a sense of disdain. To the Dominean Tolvaar, war is approached only as a necessity and is otherwise rejected. That the Rider represents the glory of war, the exhilaration of battle, and the revel in felling one's enemies, stands against the cultural values that the Tolvaar allege were instilled in them by the Lady Veýs.

Finally, to many Dominean Tolvaar, the Tretalleri legendary figure, the Prophetess Llyrileýwa, is one and the same as the Lady Veýs.